THE Government's handling of the decision on the euro was described by a former minister yesterday as a "bit of a shambles".

Ex-Europe Minister Keith Vaz urged Gordon Brown to bring forward his planned announcement on the single currency on June 9 to help bring clarity to the situation.

Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith also derided the Government's euro policy, saying that a "vicious and personal feud" between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor was splitting the Cabinet.

Mr Duncan Smith seized on ex-Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson's description of the Chancellor as an obsessive who had "outmanoeuvred" Mr Blair on the single currency.

Mr Mandelson's remarks to reporters showed "how vicious and personal this feud has become", the Tory leader told Tony Blair in the Commons.

"The reality is that they are divided from top to bottom on the euro," he said at Prime Minister's Questions.

Mr Blair refused to be drawn into the wrangle, saying simply that the Government's decision on the euro would be announced on June 9.

During a Commons debate on European Union accession later, Mr Vaz urged ministers to hold a referendum on the single currency in the autumn to test public opinion.

The MP for Leicester East, who recently visited Sweden where a referendum will be held in September, said, "There is real concern that what should be a clinical decision is turning into a bit of a shambles.

"I would be in favour of the Chancellor bringing his statement forward so that there is a bit of clarity. What we say on June 9 is going to have a dramatic effect on the Swedish referendum."